Saturday, February 28, 2015

The Last Orangutan Eden

Ecologist Chris Morgan travels to the
jungles of Northern Sumatra to document the work being done to save its
population of wild orangutans. Asia’s most intelligent ape once roamed
across the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Java, but today, fewer than
7,000 Sumatran orangutans remain in the wild. The film cites rapid
deforestation — clearing the land for vast palm oil plantations — as the
chief reason for the species’ declining population.

But as Morgan
shows, conservationists are trying to reverse that trend by teaching
orphaned orangs the survival skills they’ll need for release back into
the jungle. He also accompanies researchers deep into a remote and
protected peat swamp forest to study wild orangutans up close to learn
about their culture and behavior.